Almost 400,000 Aussies Unfriend Facebook Since December 2012
While Facebook, the world's most popular social media site, continues to pervade the lives of its 1 billion members through the newly released Facebook Home, in Australia, the site is becoming less popular as almost 400,000 Aussies unfriended Facebook since December 2012.
What's happening in Australia is in line with global trend for young people who have been finding Facebook to be not so cool anymore place to hang out since their parents are in the same site.
Besides the almost 400,000 Aussies who left Facebook in the last five months, another 115,000 are logging less frequently each month since January 2013, data from social media monitoring firm Social Bakers said.
While Facebook insisted that the numbers of its ad tools system are only estimates - which showed current active Australian members at 11.5 million from 12 million at the end of December 2012 - a social media expert at Queensland University of Technology Business School Professor Larry Neale confirmed lower number of Facebook users in North America and Europe due to Facebook fatigue.
"Maybe when they started on Facebook they were in university but now they're in the workforce and they don't have the time to spend on it anymore, or they don't think it's the right way to be spending that time," he explained.
But it is not just the number of Australia Facebook members that's going down, but also the pay of Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. A recent Securities Exchange Commission filing said the young billionaire will receive a $1 salary in 2013 from the social networking site.
However, Mr Zuckerberg's wallet is far from thinning out as he still holds 60 million stock options valued at 6 cents per share which could still yield bonuses and stock options.
The $1-a-year pay could be in response to the $1 billion tax bill Mr Zuckerberg got from the IRS for 2012.